Heylo Dare! A Friday Freebie. I made a couple of phone cases last night. They took me about half an hour each and I wasn’t hooshing them along. Nope, a gentle pootle along with cups of tea and cake kind of make.

The template is easily adjusted and you can add a key fob or a lobster claw to clip to a bag strap or purse. Lots of possibilities.

Most importantly, they do all the wonderful things that us sewists love:

Use small pieces of fabric (stash busters)

Cheap to make

Quick to make (half and hour or so!)

Easy to make

Can be gussied up gorgeous for all ages and genders

AND very useful!

All of the above add up to craft fair sellers and gorgeous gifts that won’t bend the pennies or bust the bank.

The one in the picture is for my phone which is a Sony Xperia but the pattern is simple and easily tweaked to suit your phone or other sizes – Google to look for popular phones and their dimensions.

Anyhoo, here’s a free PDF including the template and instructions with photos and illustrations by me. Enjoy!

Back today with Annie Bonnet’s Tea-Time Toastie Tutorial. I recently made a couple of cosies for a lady who wanted them to give as presents. Making them finally spurred me on to finish the tutorial. I used my instructions to guide the making of my latest cosy and had no problems so think they are clear. The PDF includes illustrations for each of the key stages.

I’m selling the PDF tutorial for €8 here – usual terms – you will receive the PDF within 24 hours of payment being received from Pay Pal. The PDF will be sent to the e-mail address of the Pay Pal account holder unless directed to send to an alternative e-mail address.

What sort of weekend did you have? Mine was grand. Went to the auctions on Sunday. Got myself a nice pine wall-mounted wine cabinet thingy. A bit grubby but will clean up with very little elbow grease. Just as well, cos there’s very little grease left on the elbow at the moment. Am feeling tired with all the decorating and doing up stuff. And cleaning. Oh God the cleaning. TV land shows women smiling at mop buckets full of Ajax and dancing round their kitchens in the joy of the mopping moments. Will this pleasure never end?

I would rather play the ukelele – and that’s saying something! Isn’t that a mad phenomena that’s sweeping the planet at the moment? I know someone who goes off on the train to some county somewhere to join another bunch (band?? really?) of ukelele players in a large public park and plays his ukelele with them for three hours every Sunday.

I was more stunned to see/hear a ukelele version of ‘Stairway to Heaven’ and The Cure’s ‘Lovesong on You Tube. Like – WTF???!

I also bought a box of mysterious and wondrous things, a job lot for €7.00. I didn’t pull it all out and have a real good scroot but saw an old, as in VINTAGE, child’s pull along horsie toy. Thought ‘ That’ll look nice cleaned up (very grubby) with my jars of buttons and beads on its back in the window of my sewing room.

This is the horsie I thought the box was worth a punt for. I think it’s the one I backed in the Grand National.

I must have been out of my tiny mind. It’s dirty, manky, skanky and nasty. It has all the artistic flair of Dougal’s ‘Bishop Brennan in the Skirting Board’ talent. It has no wheels. It’s not functional. Why did I buy it? I just don’t know! Out of my head or off my tits on something. Must have been. There’s no rational explanation. But it makes me laugh every time I look at it. I mean, look at it! The other mysterious and wondrous things were junk. Of course! Very educational. Well, taught me a lesson! Still, it’s given me some belly laughs as well.

On the way back from the auction, I popped into Hickeys and bought a few notions and things. They have a sale on and have some owl cushions (or pillows?). Very nice but still 12.50 half price. And if, like the Asian mammy in Goodness Gracious Me, you think ‘I can make it at home for nothing’ (that’s how I think) then maybe you want to have a go at making one from scratch.

I do and will. So I have created a template for the applique pieces and they match the elements you see in the owl graphic above. If you want to make one for yourself, download the PDF and get going. You will need to subscribe but that’s easy enough to do and the template is free.

Me and the tree

Hello there!

This is a blog of many things and reflects my interests as they come and go. You’ll find Illustrator and Photoshop tutorials along with embroidery, sewing, crochet, baking and papercutting. It’s fairly eclectic.

The tree has long roots in Ireland in a garden full of flowers with lots of birds, bees and butterflies.

I live in a very happy home with Mr Tree and our two kitty girls, Gracie and Jess.